Lunar Sea
by lye tea
Summary: How things were and should be. She appeared like a stream of moonlight. /Riku x Kairi/


**A/N:** For Mauve Rune. Please excuse this disorganized, drabblish mess. It's been years since I played Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

**Lunar Sea**

She came from a world unknown to them, unseen with naked, lucid eyes. She was an entity that could not be defined, someone destined to drift between realms and carry spectacular dreams. She was like a pool of sidereal charm and light, skin pale and eyes deeply dark, so small he could envelope her completely.

_She was the girl who…_

(who caught his heart and volleyed it back)

Underneath a papou tree, Riku closed his eyes and lulled himself to sleep—the swishing of the leaves (oceanic breeze filtering through) and the quiet roar of a restless ocean surrounded him. The air dispelled sound, an incantation by windy gods, and he grew blissful and content, nestled. And thinking of yester-year (and what could have been).

In his dream: he saw a girl and two boys.

_…washed ashore one fateful night._

**-x-**

Skies writhed in a lake of liquid fire, brilliant and strong. They ignited moons and dusty constellations, and down, down fell a tiny body enshrouded in mist—molded in mystery. _Sora rushed to catch her_. Riku leapt, soaring, keeping up pace. They were neck-to-neck.

The race commenced, and neither boy was a fan of losing. So, they swam eons and beyond to reach the fast-sinking girl (_quick, think fast!_) and pulled her to safety, gravely and sandy…another sea stretched before them.

She shivered, unconscious.

-

"Where did you come from?" he asked her one day.

She bit her lip, tugged at a strand of hair, and refused to meet his eye. "Somewhere."

"You don't remember?" Sora added (_always butting in_).

"Sorry…I can't remember anything really."

"So what's your name?" Riku continued.

And both boys waited eagerly for a response, thinking she could be the princess they heard in fairytales.

-

Riku brought her a papou fruit, her first he noted triumphantly (and saw a heaving Sora scaling the cliff-ruin walls).

She took the fruit and eyed it carefully, as if examining for every blemish (deceitful like poison), and he was getting a bit annoyed. She took a hesitant bite and smiled up at him brightly. And all of a sudden, his heart melted.

A fleck of juice dripped down her mouth. She wiped it away, embarrassed, but Riku simply laughed. It was cute and so very _her_ (he imagined her life before this moment and spun her-story).

"I'm Kairi."

Amused, he took her hand, amazed at the almost transparent tint of her skin.

-

The mayor visited and spied her behind a pillar. He beckoned her to come; Kairi shook her head staunchly and fled the scene.

He winked after her fleeing form and drilled Sora and Riku on her origins.

-

Sometimes, burrowed—resisting assault—inside his soul, the desire to explore another universe and leave the Islands became unbearable. He felt like the weight of comets was being pressed onto his chest, and a shower of stars bursting shot like missiles into his wrists (red splattered on canvas like stigmata prints).

Riku twisted, plummeted down precipices embodying a man gone mad. Still, the feeling did not subside, tumbling through the sharp air that perforated his sun-dappled cotton clothes. Sora called him crazy, and Kairi gasped in panic, thinking _he just might die._

But he needed the rush, lived for it, and so, he flew off the (world's) edge.

"Incredible!" Kairi shouted from below, a minuscule dot barely visible.

Riku grinned and waved to her, gliding past clouds.

-

"Kairi, what do you think about getting out of here one day?"

"You mean…leave the Islands?"

"Yeah, not forever. We'll come back one day, but we should have an adventure…out there."

"You promise you'll take me along?"

"Sure I will."

"And Sora too?"

"…And Sora too."

-

For reasons he could not uncover, Kairi had an irrational fear of thunderstorms and flashes of magnificent lightning. She clutched his arm tightly, bruising the muscle and searing the skin, every time. And sometimes (if she were _really_ frightened) she inched closer to him, heart-to-heart—the conversation flowed.

And for a brief moment, it was just him and her (and no Sora). This was when he was the happiest. This was when he bolstered knightly courage and joked a little.

"What do you think about only us going away?" he murmured into her ear.

On cue, Kairi faltered for words, blushingly flustered. "Uh…I don't know...what about…"

"I'm only kidding, Kairi. You think I'm gonna leave Sora here alone? Can't come back and have him a self-declared king."

_Oh, that was so._

"You're right Riku," _you're always right._

**-x-**

She splashed water onto him, soaking him to the bone, and jilting him awake. Riku dashed after her, set on repaying her back. But all justifications aside, Riku enjoyed the thrill of a chase.

"Come and catch me, Riku!"

He stopped. She was feet away, motionless with head tilted toward the grimly dim sky.

"Kairi, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just think that the moon looks beautiful tonight."

_As it did every night._

"You really like staring at the moon, don't you? Maybe you're some kind of moon-princess."

"Riku, quit teasing me."

With that she hurried ahead, leaving him to charge on afterwards, like it had been for so long (like it will forever be).


End file.
